Thursday, December 1, 2011

Better than Brownies

I'm so thrilled to be doing another Gooseberry Patch cookbook review today.

Many of you know that I am a huge fan of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. They are full of recipes from everyday home cooks like us. You can flip through any one of their cookbooks and you are sure to find many recipes that your family will love.

So I was super giddy when I received the soon-to-releasedRush-Hour Recipe Cookbook from Gooseberry Patch.This book is all about meals and desserts that can be made fairly quickly and with just a few ingredients. Perfect for those crazy-busy weeknights. There are even slow cooker meals in here.

So I flipped through and as I usually do, I immediately looked for something sweet.I always go to the dessert section first. Anyone else do that? And I came across this little gem of a recipe called Better than Brownies. It caught my eye because it uses a boxed cake mix, which we all know I love to use. This recipe is located in the section entitled "Speedy Potluck & Party Food".

220 comments
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What a fun giveaway! I love those Gooseberry Patch cookbooks (: My favorite shortcut has to be instant mashed potatoes. They make a freezer meal of chicken strips and green beans seem home made. Hey, if I made it at home, it's home made, right? (:

Ha!!! I did a review of their Quick & Easy Christmas and it went live today too :) I would love to win this one though! Their books rock. Oh, and the towel is AWESOME. I have a pillow on my couch w/ the same saying on it!!

My mom used to make the recipe you posted so it brought back some good memories of her in the kitchen! She didn't use nuts and I don't recall her stirring the chips in but I look forward to your review if you try it. My hint for easy dinners is always start the week out with a menu plan! I make a menu based on what I had on hand and the best deals from the grocery ads that week. There was always a "leftovers" day. Just having a menu plan posted on the frig reminds you to defrost and prep and dinners just run smoother!

I love there cookbooks! i am a collector of cook books,,,and also enjoy the stories and memories they include! i went and liked there page so glad to know they are on FB,,thanks...I buy hamburger in bulk and fry it with onion and some with green pepper and onion,for fast chili,skillet meals, sloppy joe,and casseroles.I also pre mix meat loaf ingr. and freeze, just thaw and mix with a few ing and pop in the oven! i would love to win this,, and dec 11 is my 4th wedding anniversary! what a wonderful gift that would be,,most of all thanks for sharing all your wonderful cooking with home cooks like me,,,raised my 4 kids and now 2 grandbabies and i on the way with the love from my kitchen:0)

I'm trying not to get my tinsel in a tangle this season! I would love to win the Gooseberry Patch cookbook! I have several of their cookbooks and love them all! I love your website and have used a couple of your recipes recently. They turned out very good. If you need to cook chicken breasts that are frozen, put them in the crockpot frozen and in a few hours, they'll be done.

Gooseberry patch cookbooks are the best! My best shortcut is grilling enough meat for two dinners. If you grill chicken...don't eat it all! Great to have the next night for gyros or chicken salad...quick and easy! You have a wonderful blog and a fun giveaway! Thanks! ♥

This cookbook sounds fantastic. I like to double recipes that freeze well for easy dinners on those busy nights. Great giveaway Brandie and another great review! By the way... this is Rochelle, originally from "The Pretend Chef". I have started a new blog for my new adventures.

I buy the large package of hamburger and cook it up with onions and them put them in storage containers in the freezer, then i can take them out and use for chili, spaghetti, or any other casserole dish, quick and easy.

Great recipe to share Brandie! I want to come visit you and share those brownies! My fave shortcut is also instant mashed potatoes. I use them on top of my Shepard's Pie and the first time I did, my husband didn't even notice the difference.

I'm a born sucker for a new cookbook! I love ones that make it easy. I like shortcuts but I like "real" ones the best. Like ground beef cooked in small portions in the freezer. And frozen chopped onions and peppers. And jarred tomato sauce. Small noodles. Chicken broth. (See? I've learned a lot from reading cookbooks -- and blogs!)

Hello! Just wanted to say I'm new to you blog and I love it. My shortcut is my fried potatoes with cheese. When short on time I use the frozen country style hash browns, put them in a skillet frozen, season and add all ready shredded cheese last 5 mins of cooking time. In 15 mins we have fried potatoes with cheese. My husband and kids love them.

When I read your title I thought "what could be better than brownies??", okay these are! Ramped up amazingness brownies! Yum yum! I haven't looked at the Gooseberry cookbooks before and am curious to check them out now.

I love Gooseberry patch am a fan on facebook. My shortcut is to keep my saran wrap in the freezer than when you need it it doesn't stick to it self only to what you are putting it on saves on the struggle.taylorb60@yahoo.com

I would love to win this cookbook, i love all of Gooseberry patches cookbooks..my shortcut is I never buy buttermilk and when a recipe calls for it, I add either a couple tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar and let it sit for a 5 minutes..Brenda

Just took the "Better than Brownies" out of the oven. They smell amazing! Think we should skip dinner and move right on to dessert! I think these would be great with mint or peanut butter chips. Thank you for posting it!

Shortcuts I use are to chop veggies in the mornings and put in zip loc bags for the evening. Also use my slow cooker as much as possible. Use my large pizza cutter to cut brownies, bars, lasagna, etc. Use my kitchen aid mixer to mix my meat loaves and meat balls. Misty james_misty@bellsouth.net

My short cuts are canned cream of anything, canned mushrooms and a jar of gravy! You can mix it up with any kind of meat and noodles and you have an outstanding meal in no time flat that everyone will love!

I would love to win this cookbook! Our shortcut is when we are making casseroles, to make 2 instead of one, and freeze them for those nights we don't feel like cooking! It really is a great timesaver.Debbie RhoadesCelticprincess1998@yahoo.com

My shortcut...since I hate chopping onions, I will buy a 3 or 5lb bag and go home and chop them all at the same time. I will individually portion half an onion into cling wrap until all the chopped onions are packaged. Then I put all the packages into a gallon ziploc bag and freeze. It makes it super easy to grab a single portion without having to chop onions when I'm cooking. They sautee up fast without waiting for them to thaw even.The new Gooseberry Patch book looks awesome and I'm making those brownies this weekend!

I love Gooseberry Patch and I too miss their catalogs!!! One of the super fast suppers I have taken to is "Taco Tuesdays" (or Thursdays, depends on which day is needed), just grab a can of retried beans and/or some black beans and toss them on the stove with some dried minced onions and garlic - then we get out some sour cream, Tomatoes and whatever other fixings we want on a taco or tostada shell and it's dinner time!! Kids love it because they can fix their own! Would love some other cool recipes!! Thanks for posting this!

Can't wait to try this brownie recipe! The main shortcut I use in the kitchen is to prep my ingredients ahead of time. So that when it's time to put it together, I'm all ready! I would love to win the book, I also "like" Gooseberry Patch on FB. Have a great evening!

I would love to win this book! I have been a fan of Gooseberry Patch since their beginning!!! I have well over 40 of their books, bookazines, etc. I just ordered more this morning. I always keep chopped onion, garlic, peppers, celery, etc in my freezer so they are ready to go when I need them for recipes.rhondaree1958@yahoo.com

I love Gooseberry patch am a fan on facebook to & I liked this on FaceBook...My shortcut is when I bake a big turkey on sunday. One is for our family Sunday dinner & with the left overs 1 night we have turkey quesadillas & 2nd night HomeMade turkey noodes...MMMmmmmmm thats 3 meals with 1 big turkey & some times we have enough left over so I will freeze the turkey meat...

I LOVE gooseberry!!!!!I own many of them but would love a copy of this one, TOO!!!My shortcut is to slice lemons and put them in the freezer. Always on hand for a tall glass of iced tea.....judyjude68@yahoo.comjudy

I LOVE gooseberry!!!!!I own many of them but would love a copy of this one, TOO!!!My shortcut is to slice lemons and put them in the freezer. Always on hand for a tall glass of iced tea.....judyjude68@yahoo.comjudy

Perhaps not a quick tip, but a kitchen hint nevertheless. I keep a roll of masking tape/marker in a drawer next to the fridge. When I open a jar/package, I note the date on the tape & stick it to the item. No more guessing when...Works w/leftovers too! Thanks for the giveaway. Gooseberry Patch is my weakness! Lindalldietz@gmail.com

I love Gooseberry Patch. My short cut is to always keep enough staples on hand to where I can fix a meal for a sick friend at any given time. I usually do chicken & noodles.....so I already have my chicken meat cooked, cooled & frozen with broth in order to make the dinner quicker. I would love to have this cookbook in my collection.<3 Susan Frencch @ susanlynfrench@gmail.com

Kitchen shortcut: I pulled my daughter's sippy cup out of retirement. Fill it with crushed ice and measure water needed for a pie crust recipe. The mouth piece allows me to sprinkle water evenly over the pastry mix. Perfect pie crust every time!

I Love Goosebery Patch cookbooks! I have several of them! I LIKED them on FaceBook..... My hint would be that I use an electric pressure cooker when I need a fast meal. I can make white beans with country ham in them in about 40 min. from dry beans! that has been the best thing I have purchased in ages!

Even though I have not been able to buy a Goosberry cookbook I follow them on facebook and have made a number of their recipes. I would love to own one. One shortcut I use is one from my mother. She used to make delisious vegetable soup. She always when she had left over vegetables even if just a half cup she would freeze it then she would make soup out of all the leftovers. Sometimes she would have ten different vegetables or more. Always delisious.

I just found out about Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks last night. It was a free Kindle book. the best book I ever downloaded! I plan to get more. =0) So excited I found it! I think it will be a new best friend. ;-)

Cannot wait to get my hands on your newest cookbook! And a great gift idea for my daughters (they have been the recipients of several already!). A Gooseberry Patch book and a cup of hot chocolate is the best way to beat the winter blahs!

Oh My! These look so awesome! We will have to make these tonight!Thank you for the chance to enter your contest. I am nuts over Gooseberry Cookbooks and the towel is just adorable!My email is snowman lover 2 at yahoo dot comI will certainly like Gooseberry on FB right now!Thank you! Barb at snowmanlover.blogspot.com

When I have a free day I make 6 batches of cookie dough and flash freeze them on cookie sheets and tehn transfer to a covered container and freeze. Then when I have unexpected company I can bake a pan or two and have warm cookies to serve.I love the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks.

I save plastic jars that mixed fruit comes in. I use these to store bread crumbs in the freezer as well as chicken broth. I also use them to pour liquids that need to be discarded so that they are contained in the trash.

My shortcuts are really simple: make big batches, Food Saver them in dinner portion size, throw in freezer, take out what you need when you need it. I could probably stand to take a few tips from the Rush-Hour Recipe book.

Love those cookbooks and LOVE brownies!! :) I am a mother of 4 and always on the go. I use my crockpot often and I like to make extra for leftovers so we can have a heat and eat leftover night or I can send it with my husband for lunch the next day.

I don't really have any true short cuts other than when doing my meal planning for the week, I always try to make a meal where I can count on leftovers at least once! Or if making a meal that requires lots of veggie prep...I'll do that in the morning so when dinnertime rolls around it's quickly made! I LOVE Goosberry patch and can never have enough of their cookbooks!

I liked Gooseberry Patch. Shortcuts I use for a busy day is to have boiled/deboned chicken or browned/seasoned beef in the freezer where I can just go in and grab something to cook. I generally plan the night before what I want to do the next day. Can you say OCD??? LOL

Just saw this again on FB this morning. I want those brownies now! Already pinned on Pinterest the other day and posted on fb and liked their page and I alreay "like" your page! Love Gooseberry Patch Recipe books, I always give them as gifts, but I sure would love one!!!!

I would love to win a Gooseberry Patch book, I have seen very few of them. If I have cooked chicken in the fridge and already cooked potatoes I feel like I can make anything. I just pop the chicken to cook in my slow cooker every few days.

Not sure you can really say this is a shortcut but it sure added flavor to the food....back when i was working 16 hours a day id get home throw food in pots and we would eat i was to tired to spice anythi.g up sad but true so finally i started using chicken or beef broth instead of water in potatoes veggiea and all

I roast 10 lbs of chicken breasts every week or 2, shred the meat & package it in the freezer for quick dinners! I pull out what I need & can make a chicken garlic pizza, quesadillas, chicken & wild rice soup, etc. in no time.

My best short cut is browning 10 pounds of hamburger at a time. Using what I need and then freezing the rest in pound packages for quick fixes during the week! I've "liked" Gooseberry Patch forever.....even have a recipe in one of their cookbooks. :-)

I am already a big fan of gooseberry patch and i would love to have this 1 to add to my collection! My shortcut is to fill 1 sink full of hot, soapy water to clean up as i go, but i love the ones's about choppy onions and freeze.

I guess you can put me in that group that says "I would love to win this cookbook"......I like to just 'sit' and read cookbooks......I've been a fan of Gooseberry Patch for a long time on Facebook.I keep thinking one of these days I'll print a cookbook with all my favorite recipes!

Boy, you sure know what to do to make me hungry! The book looks wonderful and I'd love to win it. I am a Country Cook myself and love to try out new recipes all the time. Thanks for sharing.Sally Davisonsallydav45@gmail.com

My favorite shortcut in the kitchen has to be making extra the first time around, freezing the leftover and using at a later date. I do this with quesadilla mixes, meatloaf, soup, you name it, I freeze it!